Essay writing

Faith

I just got a first year essay back and the main criticism was that it wasn't written like a psychologist (just as well I'm a biologist then). But I need to write one more essay and I'm looking for some tips on how to "write like a psychologist". I'm used to scientific writing, but not to Arts- type subjects. The essay is a discussion of whether or not memories are reconstructions that reflect our expectations rather than being veridical records of past events, if that helps. (Actually, any advice about the topic itself would also be appreciated...)

p.pete

I've only written one rather unsubstantial psychology essay so far. It went reasonably with the only major criticism being my referencing, which is obviously important. I was writing references like "(p.pete 2005)" or whatever way they were written in the book I was using - I didn't realise that this was only refering a more complete reference elsewhere in the text. Basicly I was giving incomplete information.

Hopefully someone else can give you a few pointers with regards style, I'm quite interested myself.

John

Well it should be written scientifically and not "artsy". I mean once you make valid points backed up with references like you would in traditional science subjects there can't be much to criticise.

LilMrsDahamsta

With regard to the style of the essay, writing in anything other than perfect APA style isn't acceptable and will lose marks rapidly.
With regard to the content, obviously is needs to be correctly structured (intro, paragraphs that flow coherently through a trail of evidence, conclusion). Beyond that, the basic mistake most undergrads make is having opinions - you don't have an opinion until you have a PhD (at least). In the meantime, you find a journal article/psychology text where the author shares your view, paraphrase them and reference correctly. Then you need to cite research to support (or not) this view, and discuss it. This can be applied to sentences, paragraphs or entire essays.
Finally, you can't write an essay without reading about the topic first. Find out how to use the electronic psychology references your library has, and use them; frequently.

p.pete

LilMsMelodrama wrote:

With regard to the style of the essay, writing in anything other than perfect APA style isn't acceptable and will lose marks rapidly.

Cool, I may have to invest in something like that. Is there any preference to buying the APA guide or buying something published this side of the pond if you're studying in Ireland / UK?

I found the following on amazon : http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521528062/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_1/203-0285947-0555178 published by Cambridge University Press, or is there a BPS equivalent?

Eoghan-psych

Faith wrote:

I'm used to scientific writing, but not to Arts- type subjects.

Eek - don't write it like an "Arts-type" essay, that *will* make them spit in your food.

I would hazard a guess that the criticism stems not from writing scientifically, but from writing 'biologically'. Bear with me, I'm not sure if I'll make any sense.

In biology, information is very often a set of discrete 'chunks' whereas in psychology [particularly cognitive stuff like memory] there is perhaps a greater emphasis on the relation *between* chunks, if that makes sense. In a memory essay you would be expected to describe and explain not just the current state of the science, but also the background - introducing not just the modern concept of STM with all its visuo-spatial scratchpads and long stands and glass hammers and the like, but also the older STM-LTM idea.

Maybe a better example would be genetics - if instructed to describe some aspect of modern genetics research, your first thought might not be to explain pre-Mendelian ideas about inheritance, you would be focussing much more on explaining the actual current understanding.

I know what I'm trying to say here, but I'm having trouble putting it into words. If the above makes any sense [or no sense], could someone tell me?

p.pete

Think that makes sense Eoghan-psych, theories are important in psychology, not just the current ones but also the ones that pre-existed the current theories and the links between them.

Faith

Yeah, that does make sense Eoghan. Cheers everyone

LilMrsDahamsta

p.pete wrote:

Cool, I may have to invest in something like that. Is there any preference to buying the APA guide or buying something published this side of the pond if you're studying in Ireland / UK?

I found the following on amazon : http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521528062/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_1/203-0285947-0555178 published by Cambridge University Press, or is there a BPS equivalent?

APA style is the standard format for all English language psychology writing, so google it and find yourself an online guide.

Other than that, read journal articles - that's what your essays should aim to sound like.

Dr. Octagon

LilMsMelodrama wrote:

With regard to the style of the essay, writing in anything other than perfect APA style isn't acceptable and will lose marks rapidly.
With regard to the content, obviously is needs to be correctly structured (intro, paragraphs that flow coherently through a trail of evidence, conclusion). Beyond that, the basic mistake most undergrads make is having opinions - you don't have an opinion until you have a PhD (at least). In the meantime, you find a journal article/psychology text where the author shares your view, paraphrase them and reference correctly. Then you need to cite research to support (or not) this view, and discuss it. This can be applied to sentences, paragraphs or entire essays.
Finally, you can't write an essay without reading about the topic first. Find out how to use the electronic psychology references your library has, and use them; frequently.

I don't study psychology but I do have a great interest in it.

This is one facet that really annoys me about academic psychology. Just because one isn't a well known and highly educated psychologist doesn't mean that one can't formulate an incredibly insightful idea. Would you not agree that adhering to rigourous formating can restrict creative thought processes?

LilMrsDahamsta

Dr. Octagon wrote:

Just because one isn't a well known and highly educated psychologist doesn't mean that one can't formulate an incredibly insightful idea. Would you not agree that adhering to rigourous formating can restrict creative thought processes?

I was only talking about how to get good grades for essays; I didn't say I agreed with it!

However, in general ideas of the type I think you are referring to are not welcome in academic psychology articles/journals/essays. Psychological research relies upon people who do have these sort of insightful ideas conducting an appropriate scientific study of their hypothesis and then writing/publishing on the topic, when they have evidence to show the veracity of their claims. Idle speculation, no matter how well informed or insightful or intuitively correct, will generally not be published irrespective of the author's qualifications.

While this may restrict undergraduates' creativity, the aim of their assignments is generally to assess their knowledge of a given topic, and their ability to discuss these findings. What is required is a consideration of the research evidence to date, not their own views/opinions on the topic.

Eoghan-psych

Dr. Octagon wrote:

Would you not agree that adhering to rigourous formating can restrict creative thought processes?

No - the whole point of academic writing is to train students to write for the field. If everyone runs around writing in formats that change willy nilly, the effort required to read a given paper increases exponentially. It's no point having a very insightful idea buried in 18 pages of stream-of-consciousness muck [I've seen disgruntled academics complaining that just such a paper was rejected], because nobody's going to read it.